Montreal's Expo 67 Lives On (In Music Video Form)

It’s hard not to feel wistful while listening to Alvvays, the Canadian dream-pop band that just released their second album last week.

Their previous music videos have often provided a very clear visual connection to the band’s charming and melancholic sounds, and their latest uses a very specific place and time to tap into those emotions: Montreal’s Expo 67.

In the video for “Dreams Tonite,” released earlier today, director Matt Johnson seamlessly mixes scenes of the band with footage from the National Film Board of Canada and the Prelinger Archive. While “visiting” Expo, the members ride the automated Minirail, gape at Buckminster Fuller’s geodesic dome, and perform on an outdoor stage for fairgoers.

Expo 67, which featured pavilions for 90 different countries under the overall theme of “Man and His World,” left an enduring cultural mark on Canada, one that has seemingly only grown with time. This year, Montreal has been celebrating Expo’s golden anniversary through museum shows that have centered around the architecture, fashion, technology, and politics behind the event.

In a year with no lack of Expo 67 tributes, Alvvays has delivered one of the more surprising and touching ones yet.